What studios are heading to the Super Bowl
Reports have been running rampant since back in October that Fox was more than 90 percent sold out of its Super Bowl ad inventory. Recent stories have said there are only one or two spots left. All this despite the fact that Fox never made a big announcement over what they’d be charging (stories have come in saying it was about 2.7 million Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers for a :30-second spot) and despite the fact that inventory doesn’t usually get this low until about a week before game, which isn’t until February.
After last year’s near-total abandonment of the event, today Variety has a story about what studios are among those going to the Big Game. Here’s a handy list, which actually comes via an AdAge story I completely missed last week, complete with my thoughts on each one.
Disney
Buy: Considering using its Super Bowl time to promote the new Pixar film “Wall-E,” according to a person familiar with the situation
Creative: N/A
Thilk’s Thoughts: Disney was the one studio to have a significant presence in the 2007 game, with spots for Wild Hogs and Meet the Robinsons. The year before that they advertised Cars. I doubt they’ll be eager to promote Wall-E at the expense of Prince Caspian, the next Chronicles of Narnia movie, simply because of the franchise factor. Wall-E isn’t part of one (it is, but it isn’t) and Caspian is, and they need to promote the latter in order to support the movie and keep that going after a three-year gap in the movies.
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Paramount Pictures
Buy: N/A (Variety says it’s going to be Iron Man)
Creative: N/A
Thilk’s Thoughts: Well it’s either going to be Shellhead or Indiana Jones making an appearance from Paramount. I’d lay heavier odds on it being Iron Man for exactly the reasons Graser states, that Marvel/Para need to turn Iron Man into a household name in order for the movie to be a success. Yes, there’s the need to revive the Indy franchise, but that’s not as much of a necessity. Indy 4 will has a broader built-in audience already, but the studio needs to position Iron Man as the action/adventure movie of the summer.
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Sony Pictures
Buy: Two spots
Creative: One for the Will Smith summer film “Hancock” and another for “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan,” an Adam Sandler movie.
Thilk’s Thoughts: Both of these make sense, but “Zohan” needs to be in the fourth quarter, when people are good and drunk. That will help make the trailer funnier. No, I’m serious.
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Universal Pictures
Buy: N/A
Creative: N/A
Thilk’s Thoughts: There’s speculation Universal will use this spot to promote The Incredible Hulk, the reboot of that character’s big-screen persona. That, as I noted earlier, would be extraordinarily funny considering the vastly negative reaction to the 2003 Super Bowl spot for the Ang Lee movie of that year.
Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox have also reportedly bought time but have not yet made public what movies they’re going to be advertising.
Inexplicably popular host Ryan Seacrest will also be a part of how Fox is catering to movie advertisers. Perhaps looking to overcome any skittishness over the cost of a commercial, Seacrest will be interviewing talent from the movies being advertised as part of the pre-game broadcast. The spots will also be on Fox’s official Super Bowl MySpace video channel.
Considering 2007 was so light on the movie ads it’s tempting to be surprised by how movie heavy the 2008 game is gearing up to be. But when you look at the slate of releases in each year it makes some sense.
2007 was the last year for franchises like Pirates of the Caribbean, Bourne, Ocean’s and Spider-Man. These movies had built-in fans from previous installments and studios didn’t really need to shell out big bucks to reach a mass audience – their campaigns were designed like that from the get go.
2008 has a different sort of line-up. There’s The Dark Knight, but a new trailer for that just debuted last week. And I’ve made my case above for why I don’t think Indiana Jones 4 will get a Super Bowl slot.
Instead the studios this year need to find audiences for new movies like Iron Man, Hancock, Zohan and others. So they need to start the buzz off with the largest tool available.
That being said, I don’t think we’d see such a heavy concentration if the writer’s strike weren’t happening. Studios would likely be using TV events as platforms for new spots more – and at less cost – if they could. But they can’t, and probably guessed they wouldn’t be able to, which is why they joined in the early buying frenzy.
As I’ve said before, studios are in a unique position because they
don’t have to pay for the same production costs most marketers do. The
raw material for the commercials – the films themselves – are already
available. They just need to have that material edited and then buy the
time. So they have an advantage over other marketers who can sometimes
rack up production expenses that equal or even top the cost of buying
the time.
It will be interesting to see what exactly these Super Bowl spots turn out to be and how these plans become clearer in the next month or so.
Related posts:
- Movie studios still mulling Super Bowl spots Robert Mar
- What studios are going to the Super Bowl this year I’m
- Super Bowl movie ads get online buzz I’m
- The Super Bowl’s movie ads through the years The New Yo
- Other uses for $3 million this Super Bowl Chris Brog
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[...] a more in-depth look at Variety’s story, Chris from MovieMarketingMadness broke down the different studios and tacked his thoughts on the end for good [...]